My Favourite Day

From the time I left college I saw people posting some pretty usual posts on fb “Hey I got my first salary”,”My first day at office”,”My second day at office”,”My third day at office” some surprising ones were “Look at my professional look and others which don’t even qualify for the list”
I never thought of posting any such thing as I didn’t noticed any difference because I loved writing codes this was all I wanted to do until today I didn’t knew what I was missing…
Until today when I was going through ways and roads and passed through people there were many of them,a girl  staring at me with probably all the colors available in the market on her face and when she smiled even her teeth were wearing some sort of a pink colour…A mid aged man probably in his 50′s hurling water balloons at me which I survived some how…Kids runnin after each other to paint their already painted faces…and a lot of people just simply meeting and moving on the streets…for some reason they were happy extremely happy…
And then I came across a college hundred of students were playing colors,dancing in the water showered upon them from the top,they were ecstatic,they were enjoying and then I realised I was there a year back,As my auto passed across them I could easily see somewhere in the crowd there was akhil,asif,ashish,ranu,avinash,abhi(I am sorry if I missed anyone’s name) all of them looking at me and smiling and suddenly they started chasing a boy caught him and painted him and then the boy turned back looking at me and asking me to join him…It was me…
I reached office,picked up the newspaper,the coffee machine served cappuccino at a click with all sorts of sound and suddnely I wished the place could be same…and as I walked through the bay to my seat I thought my destiny bought me a seat,an opprtunity in one of the biggest software exporters of the world…I will be ever obliged to GOD for the same…But what it took in return was huge,a chunk out of my life and till today I didn’t even know what I had left back…
So I have already worked over three months and drawn a handsome salary(thrice:-) ) from the company…Today I feel it was my first day at office…Happy Holi to all of you…

A story never told...

The first thing which I remember when I opened my eyes was 4 persons staring at me.3 of them were looking at me and then at the fourth person with dilating pupils while the fourth person was the oldest of the lot constantly examining me.

                                      “Sir you are going to love this, it is perfect”.

He took me in his hands and started moving me in different directions on the paper. He scribbled his name which was

“George Safford Parker”.

“Excellent, Good Work boys”, he nodded with a smile.

I was a special,crafted gold I.M.Parker pen made on a special request by a Swiss lady Mileva Marić for her husband as their first anniversary gift.

I was presented to her by George Parker himself. By watching the treatment she received you could easily guess she was an important person.

She quickly placed me inside a red velvet cover box. The box was mesmerizing with royalty spilling from every side. I enjoyed lying inside the box.

It was boring down there after few days and I wanted to get out desperately, it was an amazing feeling ; even  velvet starts hurting after a long time…

Anyways finally I felt some quakes and shakes and at last the box was opened. On the other side of the box were words inscribed “With love Albert”. The words matched my colour.

The person took me in his hands and raised it to everyone present in the party and then kissed the lady. He found me beautiful and everyone else agreed by raising their glasses in air.

In the coming days I was being used a lot. I went through a lot of scribbling. Albert had a good habit. He always started his day with the date on the top.

 One fine day I don’t remember the day exactly but after continuously pouring ink through me for over 2 nights this person wrote these characters  “E=mc2” and shouted in joy.

After this incident I didn’t saw Mileva for a long time.

Then one day I saw her outside the Zurich High Court. I was more than happy to see her after a long time.Albert and Mileva climbed the stairs.

I could easily feel the thumping of Albert’s heart. It was faster than normal, may be the reason were the staircases or the woman walking on those.

They entered a room and Albert signed against his name and handed over me to Mileva. She signed on the same against her name, her hands were trembling I could easily make that and later a drop from her eye through her cheeks fell on me to confirm this. I was wondering what happened and as they turned to the main page. It was written in bold letters

 “Agreement Of Divorce”

 dated 14^th Feb 1919.She held me hard towards her chest and cried and then handed me over to Albert.

Nobody asked me where did I want to stay?

Anyways life moved on and it was 1931 when my master was hosting an Indian guest. He was about to return to India the same day and Albert took me out and wrote a letter dated 27^th Sep,1931 to a man called M.K.Gandhi and handed it over to his guest and asked him to give it to him.

As he was suppose to go, Albert had a look on me and handed me over to the person and asked him to give it to Gandhi as a gift from him.

Two weeks later I was in India where the person handed the letter and me to a person whom he referred to as Bapu…He did the same and raised to show me to everyone present in that room and all of them tried moving me on paper. Among them one signature looked extremely beautiful was

After that I was not used much and soon after a long time a person came to meet Bapu. He touched his feet and showed the newspaper and asked him to sign it. It was dated 15^th August 1947 and in big fonts was stated

 “BIRTH OF INDIA’s FREEDOM”

Bapu signed on the paper with a message:

“Truth alone triumphs, be it whatever. Do the same Aggarwal. I believe in you and so does the whole country”.

                                            

                                      

                                                         

Some days after I was again in a courtroom and a statement was being written with me; the lines were:

 “After hearing all the eye witnesses I hereby declare that Nathuram Godse was found guilty and thus awarded death penalty for killing M.K.Gandhi on 30^th January,1948.”
                                                                        –Atma Charan Aggarwal.

                       

My new master then took me to his home and kept me in his drawer and never took me out again. Then One day I was handed over to a museum in Delhi. They wrote a long history about me and placed me in a glass shelf.

 Many people came and went everyday but no one was allowed to touch me. I wanted to be taken and written. I was dry and I wanted to be filled up but I couldn’t because even though they call us mightier than the sword, neither can we stand on our own nor can we express what we feel. We can articulate what our owners feel or what they want but not about our own selves.

One night a light flashed on me.I remember they were two guys who took me out breaking the glass. They were thieves who took me out from the museum with other artefacts. Suddenly I was lying in between bottles with label “Single Malt Scotch”.

I was left there for the night and the next morning there were 4 persons staring at me.3 of them were looking at me and then at the fourth person with dilating pupils while the fourth person was the oldest of the lot constantly examining me. I remembered how life has come full circle for me.

“Sir you are going to love this”, he took me in his hands and asked “Does this work” and scribbled on paper. With all my pressure I blocked d ink inside me and didn’t produce anything on the paper instead of repeated blows by the man.

And with a powerful blow I was lying on the floor after crashing to the wall...Remembering what times I have lived…What deeds I have done...It did hurt...It did hurt a lot…You see I was in hands of some interesting people who defined history and now I am a history…

[The above events are not to be considered as a fact, these are my personal interpretation what may have had with a pen during the time.It was my attempt to see some of the interesting events in history through the eyes of a pen.]

Why Grass is Green?

My mom used to take me for a walk in the park when I was a kid…I noticed a strange thing when we went to the park…she opened her slippers and started walking on the grass barefoot…I noticed some most beautiful things back then…it was her ankle bells they were beautiful…I wished I could have 2 of those one for me and one for Disha,oh I am sorry I forgot to introduce Disha(Disha was one of my neighbours,a beautiful girl who seemed another obvious reason for me to visit the park daily without fail,we had many things in common,she was a complan girl I was a complan boy you see)…

Later I enquired mom why did she surrendered her slippers before walking on the grass and she said it was good for the eyes and health and I told her I will do the same if you want will that allow me to  skip the glass of Complan I was forcefully fed before sleeping…

Then it happened one day…that day the grass was more beautiful than the other mornings…it was more greener it looked as if it was brand new…The drops of water on it the dew drops were no less than a diamond I must say…the sun was just perfect in timing as it magnified the beauty…

I popped the question again…

“Why is grass green mom?”She looked amazingly towards me

“What do you mean by why is it green…it is green because it is green”,she replied

“But why not it is red like apple or blue like the water why does it have to be only green?”

Mom evaluated the situation quickly and thought it was better to explain one question rather than answering why apple is red why hair are black why sun is yellow and so on and on…

So she replied “It is a kind of magic which God did to earth,it was green because he wanted it to be”

I was mesmerised by the fact,I started thinking God was so powerful,sitting out somewhere above us he was making the grass right here look green…He was so powerful…He could do anything if he could turn the grass to green…

14 years later..I am a so called adult now…I know the grass is green because of some weird pigment which is otherwise very useful(Read:Chlorophyll),but you see now I have got a very practical approach to everything and I know its not magic the beauty does not mesmerise me anymore…

I liked the previous reason more than anything else…Some questions are better left unanswered…whenever I see grass i have few things to recollect…my mom ankle bells…my childhood…the almighty ofcourse…the weird pigment and my complan girl… 

Resolution 2012:Go Green

At the end of each year for as long as years have been counted, humans have been known to come up with resolutions for the next one. Following them through is easy for the first weeks of January but then comes February and the deeper we get into spring, the further away we sail from the resolutions we made in those dark and cold last hours of the previous year but, this year is special as I became a part of a world class organisation and looking at the efforts it is currently undertaking towards a better tomorrow by Going Green reflects the true thought and delivering nature that is making it stand apart among its competitors.

Going by my resolution for this new year would be to mindful of and sensitive to the natural environment in your daily life.

I am going to implicate the 3 ‘R’s of environmental protection.

Popularly known as Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

See to be very clear and precise I have always thought of things which I or people around me use in excess, like wasting food items and water when people on the other regions of the planet not too far (Read Somalia,Nanchang,etc) were deprived of even a drop of water (not mentioned food as it was only a distant dream).

We should Reduce our consumption which in turn would Reduce our waste.

The first step is reducing the amounts of resources I consume and use. I will surely think twice before buying or using anything. I will surely pop up a question every time I buy something “Do I really need it?” By reducing our consumption we would also decrease the amount of waste produced. And, while writing this para I recalled, wasn’t this the thing which mom and dad always suggested…I tell you, parents are always right.

There are endless ways to reduce the waste we often mistakenly produce. Some of the very simple ones would be to think before a print or photocopy, to print and copy as little as possible, edit on screen and not on paper, use e-mail to minimize paper use, whenever going for a  print or copy, do it double-sided, change the margins on your Word documents. The default margins on the documents you print are 1.25 inches on all sides. Simply changing the margins to 0.75 inches will reduce the amount of paper you use by almost 5 percent. (I loved the last point. just wonder how eliminating 0.5 would save us 5 )

Reduce my energy consumption by simply turning off my computers when not in use  or simply and also I am going to install a master switch outside my room which I would switch off when I go to work in case there are any appliances on by mistake.

 While writing this piece I understood the quote Rochelle mam, my English teacher at school,  told us, “The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives.”

As I mentioned at the start of the article its time for the second ‘R’ Reuse.

Before disposing anything for garbage just give a thought can it be used for anything else and if you don’t get an answer give it another thought you will definitely get some use of the article something’s like plastic containers can become food storage, paper can become wrapping paper. The ways in which to reuse things are unlimited. All we need is to be creative. I came out with some excellent  creative ideas while going through a post on a website which suggested that we could reuse envelopes by placing a new label over the old address, designate a box for scrap paper and use it for printing all drafts or unofficial documents, reuse plastic bags or better get a reusable canvas bags.

Finally the third ‘R’ Recycling, it’s the most important aspect as long as the stats show such as we should wrap presents in gift bags because once we tear the wrapping paper off a holiday gift it ends up in the recycle bin, but gift bags can and should be used over and over again.

Just when I went through this fact I was completely blown off  knowing that we could operate a TV set for an estimated three hours with the energy saved by recycling just one aluminum can.(Source:Wikipedia)

Last but not the least I would encourage my friends and all near and dear ones to incorporate atleast one ‘R’ in this new year as good things must be spread because by going by Henry David Thoreau “In the end we will conserve only what we love. We love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught.”

Thinking green means being aware of our interconnectedness with the world and reflecting on the unintended damage we cause nature in the daily course of our lives. Thinking green leads to acting green - taking corrective action to make environmental responsibility a reality.

If there is just one thing you take from this lens, today please promise that you will change the way you do just one thing and incorporate at least one if not three ‘R’s

Whether it be to switch off the electronic appliances or reusing paper or always carrying a canvas shopping bag in your purse, just one thing WILL make a difference!

I wish you success in fulfilling your goals for the new year and don’t forget that together we can move mountains. Remember “Today’s mighty oak is just yesterday’s nut that held its ground.“Here’s to a fresh green start of 2012!

Thank you and Go Green!

Yeh Dil Maange More...Does It?

Cricket I tell you must be one of the games to have the most STUPIDEST records that we know of, a few examples if I may. He is the first left handed player to score a run with a right hand. He is the first player to score a hundred on this ground playing against Australia batting second.First team to win on this ground scoring in excess of 273 runs chasing. First test team to win in three days against west indies. First player to score a hundred only with boundaries. Fastest hundred on this ground, fastest hundred against this team……….I can come up with some of my own if you like…..First player to stand 22 cms away from the boundary line to take a catch, First player to stand 21cms away from the boundary line to take a catch, Only player to have been digging his nose before he took the catch, First batsman to hit the ball from the bottom 85% of the bat and score a six….seriously no wonder its not a global sport and has no place in the Olympics

First day in the CITY OF JOY

For sometime now I have been thinking a lot on transformation and transformaton and transformation and still transformation. As we stepped into this corporate world I hope everyone of us every single one of us has expected an entry similar to the king of bollywood with both hands stretched,relieved from any other pressure and free from every burden letting us feel the cool air on our faces… The expectations were high and what we got in terms of infrastructure,quality,facilities and vision was sky high.There was a feeling,a feeling like we have won the race we have done a tapasya and when the results flashed in our mail the tatasthu happened but little did we know that how much we had to learn on the first day itself… I was instructed by my friend to go to Haldirams and from there take down a bus to Unitech.Haldirams came and passed and I was sitting like a king in the auto then suddenly the autowale bhaiya turn towards me and said “What are you waiting for? Get out of the auto this is haldiram already are you going to sit the whole day here?” I was never expecting this on a morning that too on the first day…I realised there was much to life than just memorising and writing our exams and we haven’t conquered everything by just landing this opportunity,”Sustaining a position is always much harder than attaining it.” I asked myself Was I supposed to learn everything on the first day itself? Atleast the Autowale Bhaiya thought exactly the same.

Yeh Saali Zindagi...

I was extremely tired and would barely move out of my bed as I slept looking on to the fan over me on the roof counting infinite circles in the air...I did count till 97 and fell 3 short of a century which was the first thing I remembered when I woke up and saw the same fan over me...I quickly completed my century and woke up for what was the FIRST day of my college.

There is nothing which stops in this damn world...everything flies specially time...I have felt that...We all have to face the end of everything we started...our college life...the bachelor parties...the first love...the kababs,tikkas,butterscotch icecream...and more importantly we will end one day we have to there's no running to this fact...

Once Again I was extremely tired and would barely move out of my bed as I slept looking on to the fan over me on the roof counting infinite circles in the air...I did count till 97 and fell 3 short of a century which was the first thing I remembered when I woke up and saw the same fan over me...I quickly completed my century and woke up for what was the LAST day of my college...I woke up to see empty beds beside me and realised that Asif was gone...It ended and it did ended pretty fast...